Ikigai Ramen Southbridge — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Well, if I'd written this at 8:05 on Saturday night it would have been very different review indeed. I was cold, hungry, and grumpy and I'd just come to the conclusion that the 'soup' part of the chili beef & ramen noodle soup had been missed off my order. So I was totally fed up. I was in Edinburgh for the one night and I needed to take on some tasty ballast to banish the cold and bring some depleted energy for the gig later so I headed up to Ikigai. The staff at La Belle Angelle had recommended it so I was looking forward to a nice meal. Unfortunately they were fully booked so I ordered ramen to take away. When I got back to the venue, there was only a container of noodles and beef plus some pak choi. No soup. The bag had been stapled shut so the soup container could not have fallen out on the way back. So I was very disappointed. However imagine how much of an idiot I felt when I picked up the dish again and realised that the soup (which had now spilled onto my jeans) was actually underneath the noodles - the takeaway container had a false bottom which kept the noodles separate from the soup, preventing them from getting soggy on the journey home. This brilliant 'false bottom container' idea is clearly a standard thing but I'd not encountered it before. So apart from some soggy jeans - which I admit was totally my fault - the meal was absolutely delicious. I will be returning when we go back again next year. The staff were very friendly and there was quite a queue forming while I waited for my order. So I'll be booking in advance next time. Or maybe have it delivered to the venue. It really...

Disaster.

I visited Ikigai at June 2022 because of the BBC Best Takeaways programme and it was the best ramen i have had in UK, top 1 no doubt. Everything was just too good and too authentic, really a high standard ramen. The takoyaki was perfect also.

And today i just bring my family and drove 4 hours from Northern England to Edinburgh to introduce them Ikigai. This time i reserved a table in the new shop at Southbridge, and didnt expect this horrible experiences coming.

While we were waiting to be seated, those two staff at kitchen were busying on their phones while they were preparing the food. I think it is okay to use the phone when waiting order, but not preparing the food?

Then the food came. When i sip the soup first, i didnt expect a slightly sour taste will come with the tonkotsu broth. So confusing. The bamboo shoot is sour too. And then the broth started to be salty, super salty and extremely salty. It became more salty when keep eating the ramen. The egg is overcooked and didnt marinated enough also.

Last year i almost finished the whole broth, but this time i cant even finish half of the noodle. It is extremely SALTY. We all non stop drinking water after the meal.

It feels so bad when we drove so long and expected to have a super nice ramen but then we all feel disappointed and unsatisfied with the meal. I cannot find any similar thing comparing with the ramen i have had in the Ikigai last year.

And im writing the review sincerely. Sadly i lost the best...

I have never received such rude service ever before in my life - 25th Feb 6:55pm.

From the moment we walked in the person behind the counter had the worst vibe and attitude. As we walked in, he looked up from his phone in the worst mood and grunted then proceeded to ignore us. When I asked for a table of two, he pointed to a table and said "sit". The door didn't close properly as we took our table, he shut the door with great forced to emphasise that was left ajar mark long the other two people in the venue look up from meal.

At this stage, I was ready to walk out as it was a huge turn off, but my wife was adamant on staying as she had heard good things. This is the only reason we stayed & I decided not to order for myself as I was put off by this rude person.

When I ordered, there was no words from the employee, just a blank stare. The food was okay. I asked for a takeaway container, which he was adamant to give me and then refused to give me take away chopsticks.

We walked up the road to the sister store on Nicolson Street and spoke with the manager discussing the service we had received. He took my phone number and told me the owner would call the next day as this is what I requested, but no phone call was received to rectify the issue.

This was our final night in Edinburgh and has left a very disappointing lasting impression.

This employee needs to be fired as he is detrimental liability to your...